PRC Talk ‘The Passing of the Flame – Dion Fortune, W.E. Butler & the Way of High Magic’ with Ian Rees

Tuesday 4th November 2014 7.30pm

The Passing of the Flame – Dion Fortune,
W.E. Butler & the Way of High Magic

This series of 8 themed but standalone talks takes the major themes of Dion Fortune’s work and explores them as expressed through the work of W.E. Butler and Tom Oloman. The intention for those who follow the series is to give a grounding in the art of Qabalistic magic. Each talk will include experiential and practical exercises.

Ian Rees
Ian Rees is a psycho-spiritual psychotherapist practising in Glastonbury Somerset UK. He has been a therapist for 20 years and spent 10 before that working in Probation Work and Social Work at all levels from Field Worker, Manager to Education Advisor for Mental Health at national level. He is an experienced trainer and taught at the Karuna Institute in Devon from 1999 to 2009; he designed and ran their MA programmes as well as being central to the teaching team . Since 2009 he has concentrated on developing the Annwn Foundation workshops and the Awen training and presents this material in the UK and Israel.
He has been working with the Western Mystery tradition for over 40 years and was a student of W E Butler and his principal student Tom Oloman. Ernest Butler was directly taught by Dion Fortune and carried forward her interest in the Qabalah and Arthurian tradition. Ian Rees is carrying forward this work under the aegis of the Annwn Foundation.

The talks …

7th OctoberDion Fortune, Ernest Butler and the Way of High MagicThis is an introduction to the passing of the flame from Dion Fortune to Ernest (W E) Butler, Tom Oloman and finally to Ian Rees. We will explore the nature of the Tree of Life as Rosetta Stone translating between inner and outer experience. We will consider also the fundamentals of Qabalistic High Magic and the Inner Teacher behind the work.

4th NovemberEntering the Kingdom – Taking the first step
This talk addresses the movement between the world of fragmentation and disconnection and making the first steps in embodying the experience of the living Tree of Life. We will consider Ernest Butler’s approach to the beginnings of occult training and the Sefirah Malkuth.

2nd DecemberMaking a Foundation
Here the art of working with magical images is addressed and the alchemical practices of the Interwoven Light which weave a strong energetic basis for later work, are introduced. The Sefirah Yesod, the Foundation of the Tree, will be our focus.

13th January 2015Passing through the Pillars
This talk will focus on the ancient image of the Pillars of the Temple and on working with opposites. The sephiroth Hod and Netzach the spheres of mind and feeling and their relationship to the body and the foundation will be contemplated. The nature of personality and the practice of the Magical Personality and its roots in the Golem operation will also be considered.

3rd FebruaryPiercing the veil Paroketh
The Veil Paroketh is the filter between the deeper aspect of our nature and our outer personality. Here we address our relationship with intuition and inner guidance. We consider the alchemical path of the arrow, confronting the shadow and working with the energy of death as we part the veil.

3rd MarchThe Sphere of the Sun
This talk will consider the Qabalistic way of the Heart, the name YHVH and the Path of the Healing Name. The Sefer Yetzirah, the book of Creation and the process of Genesis will be considered as exemplars of this process.

7th AprilThe Way of the Sword and the Cup
Here we will contemplate the way of the sword and the cup, the Sefiroth Geburah and Chesed, the process of balancing unbalanced force and the art of mediating between the worlds.

5th May Apotheois- the passage through the Abyss and the path of the Fool
Here we will look at the sphere Da’at:- the knowing of unknowing and making the leap into the Abyss. We will contemplate the archetypes of the Fool, the Juggler and the High Priestess.